Pollycarpus will soon be released. Not a single person in this republic
can be certain that the real killer will be caught.

"HOW can it be proven if nobody tries to prove it?"

Despair, pain, bitterness. This is the impression one gets from
comments made by Suciwati, widow of Munir, the poisoned human rights
activist, after the Supreme Court sentenced Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto,
the alleged killer, to a mere two-year imprisonment. On September 7, 2004,
Munir died on a Garuda airplane taking him from Singapore to the
Netherlands.

Suci's reaction is not excessive. She has been fighting for two years
to uncover the forces behind the cruel murder. She feels pain when her two
children, 8-year-old Alif and 4-year-old Dica, ask for their father:
"I miss Dad." She managed to push the President into setting up
a fact-finding team to investigate her husband's death. She continuously
seeks support from overseas.

The trials eased the pain somewhat. The two lower courts found
Pollycarpus, a Garuda pilot, guilty and sentenced him to 14 years. But the
Supreme Court reduced the sentence, making Pollycarpus eligible for
release in six months' time. Merely by tinkering with the charge sheet,
without asking for a special session, the judges were convinced that
Pollycarpus had not been proved guilty of the murder. Only Supreme Court
judge Artidjo Alkostar disagreed with the lighter sentence and offered a
dissenting opinion.

The other judges decided that Pollycarpus was only guilty of falsifying
his assignment papers. This in itself is strange. Pollycarpus had clearly
chosen that flight because Munir was on it. The proof of this is that he
falsified the work order, something he would not have needed to do had he
been officially tasked by Garuda to fly to Singapore. He was also known to
have moved Munir from the economy class seat to one in business class. He
wandered to and fro throughout the flight. But the efforts to find out how
the arsenic got into Munir's body were not thorough and the charges were
far from strong.

The problem is not only Pollycarpus and the Supreme Court verdict.
Since the beginning of the case there was the impression that it has been
dealt with half-heartedly, and hastily. The forces of law and order seem
to have been after only one suspect, namely Pollycarpus.

However, had the investigation been more thorough, there are a number
of people who might have been named suspects. As a result of this, once
Pollycarpus is released, there will be no other suspects. And Pollycarpus
cannot be bothered again because of the principle of ne bis in idem-no one
can be tried twice for the same crime.

The impression that the case has been handled
"half-heartedly" is bound to stick if prosecutors fail to follow
up on a key fact that there were 41 phone calls between Pollycarpus and a
cellular phone owned by Muchdi Purwoprandjono, the former fifth deputy at
the State Intelligence Agency. If the owner of the phone number says that
anybody could have used his cell-phone, proof is needed as to who had the
nerve to use the phone without the general's knowledge. It is not possible
that an answerphone had 41 conversations with Pollycarpus.

Efforts to find Munir's killer have gone back to zero. The attorney
general has already announced that he is not going to ask for a review of
the Supreme Court verdict.

So, if President Yudhoyono says he wants to revitalize the Munir
fact-finding team, and the National Police Chief promises to reopen the
Munir case, we hope these are not just empty words to show that the
government is doing something. Whatever the team to be formed, it will
find difficulty in getting to the bottom of this murder mystery. It will
have to look for new suspects and new evidence in a case stretching back
two years. But if there is a will, there will be a way.

If Munir's killer can be caught, President Yudhoyono will deserve to
win the Nobel prize. On the Nobel stage, he could invite Munir's two
children to receive the prize that will become a milestone in this new era
of law and order.

-------------------------------------------

Tempo Magazine No. 06/VII Oct 10-16, 2006

Law

Dark Clouds Over the Munir Case

The National Police Chief sets up a new Munir case investigating team
after Pollycarpus 'walks.'

THE murder case of human rights activist Munir ended up obscure.
Everything returns to zero. Months were spent on a probe into the ruthless
murder of the 39-year-old human rights advocate by poisoning, but now the
case is further engulfed in mystery. An appeal decision of the Supreme
Court on Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a Garuda pilot, was the cause.
Polly was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a district court, which was
sustained by the high court. Polly was found guilty of involvement in the
premeditated murder of Munir on September 7, 2004, aboard a Garuda
airliner flying the Jakarta-Singapore-Amsterdam route.

On Tuesday last week, the judicial appeal panel chaired by Iskandar
Kamil declared that Polly was not the perpetrator of Munir's murder. He
was only guilty of falsifying a letter of travel assignment. This
wrongdoing, according to the panel, was far less severe than killing a
man. Therefore, the punishment for Polly was slashed from 14 years to only
two years in jail.

But it was not a unanimous decision. Justice Artidjo Alkostar, one of
the three members of the panel, disagreed with his two colleagues,
Iskandar and Atja Sondjaja. Artidjo applied the a posteriori
principle-analyzing known effects to deduce possible causes. Based on the
series of facts in the last journey of Munir, Artidjo was convinced that
Polly had been involved. "There was a succession of peculiar acts by
the former Garuda pilot before the death of Munir," he told Tempo
(see interview with Artidjo).

Still, Artidjo lost his vote. Within six months, Polly will be free.
Polly's attorney, M. Assegaf, even planned to request that the confinement
of his client, now occupying detention room C-3 at the National Police HQ,
should be suspended. "It's because he has served three quarters of
his term," said Assegaf.

The appeal decision constitutes a ticket for Pollycarpus to lead a life
of full freedom. At least in the case of Munir he must never be brought to
trial again. "On the basis of the criminal code principle of ne bis
in idem, Polly cannot be prosecuted for the second time in the same
case," said Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, an expert on criminal law from
the University of Indonesia.

In the Criminal Code, the principle of ne bis in idem is stipulated in
Article 76. "So, for Polly, the case is now virtually over,"
added Harkristuti. According to her, even the presence of novum or new
evidence will not take him to court. "Such evidence cannot eliminate
ne bis in idem," she pointed out.

Suciwati, Munir's wife, was obviously disappointed. "This further
shows the confusion of our law, which is not on the side of the
weak," she said. The mother of two is working with a non-governmental
organization. Suci was sure that Polly was only a pawn in her husband's
murder. Consequently, though the court of the first level and the high
court punished Polly, Suci kept demanding that the mastermind of her
spouse's killer should be captured.

With this appeal decision, the government attempt to revitalize the
Munir case investigating team has triggered the pessimism of many circles.
While the fact-finding team of the Munir case failed to do much until its
dissolution, the new team is expected to have the same fate. Pro-human
rights groups believe that Munir's killing involved powerful men.
"The commitment and serious attitude of the President will be useful
to uncover this case," said Asmara Nababan, deputy head of the
fact-finding team.

According to Asmara, his team once requested the President to audit
investigators from the police for their less than optimal performance.
Asmara cited Polly's phone contact with a high-ranking State Intelligence
Agency (BIN) official as an example. "The phone number of the one in
touch with Pollycarpus was never seriously traced," he noted. Asmara
also regretted the President's lack of prompt response to the team's
recommendations. One of them concerned the team's failure to reach maximum
capacity due to BIN's limitation. "If the President approved this
recommendation, the head of BIN should have been replaced," he added.

National Police Chief, Gen. Sutanto, apparently wanted to avoid any
public impression of low working morale among his personnel. On Friday,
Sutanto announced the dissolution of the former team led by Brig. Gen.
Marsudhi Hanafiah and formed a new team under Brig. Gen. Suryadharma to
investigate Munir's case. "This team will search for new
evidence," said Sutanto.

Asmara coolly responded to the changed team. "It's only lip
service," he remarked. The ex-secretary-general of the National Human
Rights Commission was not convinced that Suryadharma's team would uncover
Munir's killer. "The police are facing a big power," he said. In
Asmara's view, the President is the only one who can unveil the mystery of
Munir's demise. "This case indeed depends on President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono," he concluded. -- LRB/Maria Hasugian, Abdul Manan